Abstract

There is now a literature proposing male honor as the cause of most wars. This idea is closely related to studies of wars caused by male leaders seeking revenge for humiliation from earlier defeats. Examining the role of male honor might help in understanding the causation of many wars. For example, the origins of WWI may be better understood in this way. It is still a puzzle to most researchers: an example is provided by a highly regarded study by Clark. After reviewing the data and the other studies of how this war began, at the end he seems be saying that the nations that fought this war were more or less equally involved in starting it.